Alta Motors says that the use of funds goes to the expanding the company’s existing manufacturing and R&D facility in Brisbane, CA; refining the company’s vehicle technology; and developing more lightweight vehicles.

From the funding, Alta Motors sees two more board members added to the company’s board of directors: Travis Bradford, Professor of Practice and Director of the Energy and Environment graduate program at Columbia University, and Hector Sepulveda, Managing Partner at Mountain Nazca.

“Alta has taken a Trojan horse approach to this market since its inception, delivering a robust and exciting motorcycle into the performance off-road segment. But underneath, Alta has quietly achieved amazing success in advanced core vehicle technologies including the highest energy density of any commercialized pack in transportation, even Tesla’s,” said Travis Bradford.

“It now holds a portfolio of patents for its proprietary battery pack, drivetrain, and chassis technologies. The fundamental advantage of this IP is that it gives Alta both performance/cost and performance/weight ratios that put it years ahead of the rest of the industry, and all of this technology is now commercialized and vetted in the most demanding environment a vehicle can face. Pretty impressive stuff.”

Alta says in its press release that the company’s commercialized battery pack is capable of 185Wh/kg, and that Alta Motors plans to achieve 225Wh/kg in commercial production by 2020.

The startup is focusing its future efforts on the lightweight vehicle market – a $125 billion industry – for its future growth, which includes mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, side-by-sides, urban autonomous vehicles, and delivery drones.

“Not since Soichiro Honda took on the American and British marques in the 60s and 70s has the industry seen this level of disruption, and Alta is leading that charge,” said Bob Fox, Founder of FOX Racing Shox Inc.

“In just a few short years, it’s accomplished what has taken others decades to execute on, from breaking ground on a high-tech, vertically-integrated manufacturing facility to the launch and serial production of its groundbreaking Redshift electric vehicle platform.”

Despite his best efforts, Jensen is called one of the most influential bloggers in the motorcycle industry, and sometimes consults for motorcycle companies, whether they've solicited his expertise or not.